Entertaining a 16 month old

To be honest I very rarely sit down and play with my kids, I may be a bad Mum but I just don't seem to be able to do it. Instead I invite them (well Jack since Ben isn't old enough) to help me with my jobs. Jack loves helping hang out the washing, he pegs stuff on the clothes horse and when he was younger he used to pass me the pegs or run through the washing that was hung up. He helps get tea ready, gets the carrots from the fridge, watches me peel the veges etc. When he was younger I gave him bowls, sppons etc while I baked. This is all I have really done with him. Plus he is quite good at playing by himself although he changes toys quite often. I have also divided up his toys into 3 boxes and he is supposed to (I often forget) get a differnt box each week so it is almost like getting new toys all the time and he seems alot more interested in them, plus I got sick of having so many toys spread out over the lounge floor.
Hope some of my waffling is of some help

Edited by Linzy

let her play in the pot cupboard or with the plastic containers...

and yeah get her to help... all my kids loved helping at the clothes line, passing pegs etc and that is a good time to talk about colours too and numbers.

at that age Ella used to (and still does) love playing with her water table. we found a doll that she could wash, so she gives her a bath in it and washes a lot of her smaller toys.

 

is she interested in dolls at all? Ella was just starting to get into dolls then, so anything to do with them (putting them to bed, feeding etc) was a hit.

The bag idea is genius.

I'm like Linzy - as Bethany wouldn't really sleep at all during the day for the first year, she's had to learn that mummy does her jobs while she's up. It means she's grown into helping me with them - she loves passing me the pegs to put washing on the line, helping put the ingredients in when we're cooking, handing me washing to fold, following me around with her own lil duster, etc...

Like Heidi'smum I'll often be doing something nearby while she plays, rather than spend the whole time sitting and playing with her. We do sit and play or read together often, esp when she asks (if I can at the time), just not exclusively!

The best kind of toys are definitely those that aren't toys at all! My kitchen cupboards and drawers have been rearranged so they're mostly child-friendly at the heights she can reach. Means we get all sorts of unusual things on the floor (plus lots of noise at times as she loves the sound of metal measuring cups on our tiles lol!) but she has fun and entertains herself. And when you're trying to get dinner made or dishes done, that's what counts!

I dug a little handbag out of my cupboard that Bethany loves filling and emptying it with all sorts of things. (It's hilarious to see her trotting around with beads around her neck, handbag on her shoulder, pushing a dolly in her doll's buggy lol!)

Bubbles are great - $2 shop has a bubble gun that I was hoping Bethany would be able to work by herself but it's a bit hard for her yet. She loves watching me shoot bubbles into the air though!

On some of the hotter summer evenings I've taken a bowl full of water out onto the deck and given her a few kitchen things to play with in it. She loves it - can't get enough!! A friend used to set up her baby bath on a towel in her kitchen so that her boy could play with the water that way. Another friend sits her little girl on a stool at the kitchen sink and fills that with water.

Hope that gives you some ideas :-)

PS love the sheet over the laundry rack idea, must try that one!!!

They are such wonderful ideas! The bag one works a treat for us at Church, but I can't do it at home. It without fail leads to tantys, because as soon as I pick up a bag, it's time to go out according to darling DD!

Thanks for all your replys, this has actually been a really good topic to see how other people keep their kids entertained! I am going to print this out and keep it somewhere handy to pull out when I need it.